


Acclimatisation

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Post-Canon, Temperature Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:30:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: The journey to Vask is colder than Damen expects. And the cold affects Laurent more thanheexpects.





	Acclimatisation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my 'Temperature Play' Kink Bingo square.

"I can't believe you're not even shivering," complained Damen.

Laurent shrugged delicately. "Some of us aren't ridiculously weak to the cold. Anyway, if you're ever planning on spending a winter in Arles at any point, perhaps it's for the best that you build up some tolerance to this sort of environment now."

"Easy for you to say when you've got several inches of clothing holding the cold at bay."

"And whose fault is it that you don't have that as well? You're the one who insisted on wearing nothing but a chiton and a half-cloak."

"How was I supposed to know it would be _this_ cold?"

Maybe because they were in the mountains towards the north of Vask in the dead of winter? Laurent would have thought it would be obvious. Though Laurent supposed that he had the advantage of having grown up seeing the snow-capped peaks in the distance whenever they visited Varenne in the colder months, whereas he was fairly certain that before now Damen had never actually seen snow with his own eyes in his entire life.

That excuse was a little thin, though, when Laurent had specifically warned him of how cold their journey through the mountains would be, and that Skarva itself wouldn't be much better even once they arrived at their destination. Damen had nonetheless waved off Laurent's offer to have clothing more fitting for the climate commissioned for Damen and the Akielon guards who were accompanying them. Which was exactly why Laurent felt absolutely no pity for how miserable Damen looked right then. If anything, Laurent was reserving his pity (as well the extra thick cloaks and blankets that Laurent had ordered packed away into the wagons without Damen's knowledge) for the guards, who hadn't been directly offered the same choice as Damen had. Even now the guards were all doubtless bundling themselves up in the furs for the night while Damen had to resort to dealing with the impact of his own decision by just wrapping his bare arms around his equally bare legs and hoping that made a difference.

Even so, Damen was apparently refusing to acknowledge his mistake. "Besides, we talked about this," he said. "I can't show up to see the Empress covered from wrist to chin to toe, looking every inch like a Veretian." Not every inch, Laurent mentally countered. Men weren't typically built like _that_ in Vere, in his experience. Damen continued, "We need to appear as absolute equals, not like I've surrendered my entire country to you to change everything as you please."

Laurent personally would have said it was more important for them to appear as a united front – and _had_ said exactly that weeks ago, actually – than to show that they'd each maintained their own separate identities inside the alliance. But eventually Laurent had decided that the Vaskians were significantly less likely than Laurent himself to spend hours assessing the political ramifications of their respective clothing choices. So it hadn't seemed worthwhile to escalate the whole thing into an actual fight, and Laurent had accordingly let the matter drop. Though it had helped that Damen had distracted Laurent at the time by trying to provide a practical demonstration of how much easier it would be to react to a night-time raid from one of the rebel tribes while they were in the mountains if all one had to do was pin a chiton in place and grab a sword rather than trying to throw on Veretian layers. Laurent hadn't let him complete the demonstration in the end, though, for the picture that Damen had presented bending down to retrieve his chiton once he'd let it drift to the floor was a little (a _lot_ ) too tempting to ignore.

"Well I hope it's worth it now," Laurent said. "Though to be honest, it's not as bad as you're suggesting anyway. It's barely even cold now that we're inside the tent. Certainly not cold enough that I mean to sleep in my clothing."

Just as Laurent had anticipated, that got Damen's attention. 

"I might even be persuaded to share body heat with you, if you ask nicely," Laurent added.

Damen was quick to reach for Laurent's laces then. Laurent would admit that there was obviously some legitimacy to how cold he claimed to be, for the backs of Damen's fingers as they brushed against the inside of Laurent's wrists were freezing. It was lucky they weren't further up the mountain or he'd have probably been risking frostbite. Though at that point Laurent would have forced him into some reasonable layers to protect him from his own stubbornness, even if he'd had to tie Damen down and enlist the help of the guards to do so.

Damen had grown adept at unlacing him over the years, but the stiffness of his cold fingers seemingly made him a little clumsier at it than usual. It didn't affect his determination, though, so Laurent still ended up naked from the waist up soon enough. Rather than immediately aiming to remove Laurent's trousers, Damen pulled Laurent against him as if desperately seeking out the promised body warmth. Damen's chest against Laurent's back felt like it was radiating just as much warmth as usual – sleeping in bed with him during the summer felt like lying directly alongside the fireplace – but the arms that wrapped around Laurent were notably chilled. Especially Damen's fingers, which brushed up over Laurent's skin. Specifically: over his nipple.

Laurent involuntarily let out a high sound before he could cut it off. "Your hands are cold," Laurent tried to explain away in embarrassment when Damen stilled.

"That didn't sound like a complaint, though," Damen noted softly. His hot breath hitting Laurent's ear was an odd contrast to his hands as they splayed across Laurent's chest.

His icy fingers very specifically sought out Laurent's other nipple, as if testing a theory. Even though he was only lightly touching rather than pinched Laurent's nipples the way Laurent would usually like, practically Laurent's whole body arched into the touch. Peering over Laurent's shoulder down the line of his body, Damen could doubtless see the evidence of just how much such a simple touch had affected Laurent. Laurent tried to imagine what Damen's cold hand would feel like against the heat of his already-hardened cock. He wasn't sure if that would be equally as pleasant, or if he'd end up recoiling away from it. He was fairly certain that he was about to find out the answer soon enough. 

Damen said, "That's just unfair. You're not allowed to mock me for not being able to handle the cold when the only reason you're fine with it is because you _like_ it that way."

Laurent hadn't realised until this exact moment that it had that effect on him, actually. But he hated admitting to just how little he still sometimes found that he knew about the workings of his own body, even after all these years, so he chose not to point that out. 

"Are you going to complain?" asked Laurent instead, trying to sound as unperturbed as possible. "Or are you going to put this little discovery of yours to good use?"

Damen didn't need to be asked twice.


End file.
